Tuesday 19 November 2013

"Police blitz on bikes to tackle spate of vehicle damage"

From The Evening Standard:

Hundreds of police are to flood central London in a "zero-tolerance" campaign against reckless cyclists in a bid to halt the "appalling" spate of inconvenience suffered by motorists.

Specialist traffic officers will be on duty on every major street, especially notorious junctions.

Over the past two weeks, dozens of car drivers have had paintwork scratched by inconsiderate cyclists who were not able to double guess which way drivers would turn at busy junctions.

Nine car and lorry drivers have lost several valuable hours helping police establish the circumstances which led to cyclists throwing themselves under the wheels of passing motor vehicles.

Starting on Monday, police will be looking for motorists using mobile phones and drivers stopping in the advance "bike boxes" at traffic lights and ensuring that their path is kept cyclist-free.

The decision was taken at a meeting between the Met and City Hall last night, hours after charity volunteer Richard Muzira became the sixth cyclist to die while obstructing a busy commuter.

Under pressure to act, the Mayor said he would also push for a ban on the "scourge" of cyclists wearing headphones.

City Hall had previously insisted they would not be rushed into action and real improvements for vehicle security would be delivered with a £35 million scheme for segregated car lanes to be built next year.

3 comments:

Tim Almond said...

I really don't get why anyone would cycle in London. I avoid doing it in Swindon, which is provincial and full of generally considerate drivers.

And I'm also really pro-cycle path (not lanes) as they cost sod all to maintain and relieve congestion. But you can't do that in London as it's all built.

Mark Wadsworth said...

TS, agreed, totally suicidal. As is driving a car. Take the train or bus or walk, sorted.

Bayard said...

I used to cycle a lot when I lived in London and, outside working hours it was the quickest way of getting from A to B. Never tried it during working hours but outside them, the traffic was still bad enough to make travel by car very slow. Also, as a cyclist, you get to know all the shortcuts and sidestreets that have been blocked off to cars but are still open for bikes.